Engaged!

Our son Brandon is engaged! Earlier this month he proposed to his girlfriend, Angela Lopez, and they'll be married later this summer. I had the surprising opportunity to meet Angela in person a few days after they were engaged and I couldn't be happier for them.

Very unusual circumstances took me to the US last month. My sister Kris and her husband Steve were skiing in Deer Valley, UT and they were involved in an explosion at the Montage hotel, in a yurt located on the hotel grounds. My brother-in-law sustained a very serious back injury and my sister Kris also sustained serious injuries. Fortunately neither of them suffered any spinal cord injuries or burns and doctors are optimistic about their recoveries. My sister Lori was visiting us in the Philippines when we received word from our sister Robin about the accident and we flew immediately back to the US. The actual event was daunting and the what ifs are terrifying. A lawsuit is already underway.

The silver lining for me in this scary experience was that I was able to meet our future daughter-in-law and see all of our kids and grandkids. But I'm ahead of myself. Let me back up to the start of my sister's trip to the Philippines.

When Lori arrived in Subic, she was greeted at the mission home with a lovely banner and gifts from our office secretary, Sister Davis.

While she was here, we took Lori to some of our favorite places in our mission. Of course we took her to watch the sunset over Subic Bay, while having dinner at Playa Papagayo.

We took our must-have picture in front of our mission sign.

And although we didn't have time to go to the local market, we did find some of our unique fruits at the grocery store, including baby bananas and longan.

We visited Mt Samat, the WWII memorial in Bataan, passing interesting vehicles along the way.

From time to time as Steve and I have driven throughout our mission, we've crossed paths with missionaries doing things they shouldn't be doing, such as eating pizza while riding their bike. As Lori and I were driving, we, too, crossed paths with some missionaries and this time, they were doing exactly what they should be doing, missionary work. We stopped to chat with these two elders who were sharing a gospel message with a family at their roadside stand.

My sister took this picture of me in front of our big wall calendar ... extra credit for anyone who can guess what date I'm pointing to. 😊

And here we are on our flight back to the US. Although Lori's trip was shorter than anticipated, we saw quite a bit of our mission and we were counting our blessings that we could get back to the US as quickly as we did.

We flew through LA on our way to Utah and I was able to meet my niece McCall's boyfriend Alex.

When Lori and I landed in Utah, we arrived in a blizzard and my first stop was at REI to buy a winter coat and snow boots.

Lori and I divided and conquered, with me staying in Salt Lake close to the hospital, and Lori and Robin staying in Deer Valley with Kris and Steve's children. I stayed at a hotel close to the hospital and had to clear inches of snow off my car several mornings. This does not look like late March to me, even for Utah!

I crossed paths with my sister-in-law Melanie and brother-in-law Brad, who dropped off a thoughtful care package for Kris and Steve.

After spending a week in the ortho trauma unit, my brother-in-law was released from the hospital and I accompanied them across the country to their home in DC, where we were magically transported to springtime.

While on the East Coast, I tagged up with my sister-in-law Julie and brother-in-law Dave, who are currently serving at the Washington, DC Visitors' Center.

No trip to Maryland is complete without dinner at Uncle Julio's Mexican restaurant.

Before heading back to the Philippines, I hopscotched around the country and did rapid fire visits to see my children. First stop was Florida, where Jared and Eden and their two boys were on spring break.

Dinner with my parents rounded out my visit to Florida.

Next was a quick hop to Seattle to visit Meredith and Trent and their two boys.

And I wrapped up my whirlwind trip with Easter weekend in Charlottesville, VA with Brandon and his fiancé Angela and Kevin and his girlfriend Chandler.

It's always a treat when I'm able to visit my grandmother's grave in Charlottesville.

While I was away, Steve had the opportunity to host some of our former missionaries, who made a special effort to visit us before we head home in June.

Our generous friends the Wrights included Steve in the dinner they hosted for these amazing former missionaries.

I arrived back in the Philippines just in time to visit with another of our former missionaries, who stopped by before she headed off to BYU Hawaii.

Meanwhile, the regular rhythm and pace of missionary life continues from transfer to transfer. During transfers this month, we welcomed 11 new missionaries and said goodbye to 7.

We continue to attend stake conferences for the seven stakes in our mission. One of the reasons we enjoy stake conferences so much is the opportunity they give us to regularly see so many of our former missionaries.

Our zone conferences continue to be a highlight for us because they give us an opportunity to interact with every missionary in our mission. We are now up to 150 missionaries, almost three times our Covid low.

Balanga Zone

Iba Zone

Lubao Zone

Olongapo Zone

Orion Zone

San Antonio Zone

Santa Cruz Zone

One of the activities I most enjoy as a mission leader and have thoroughly enjoyed throughout our mission is the chance to virtually join our sisters in their companionship studies. It's a good opportunity for me to interact with our brand new sisters and to develop closer relationships with all of our sisters.

I appreciate these next pictures that my sister took because they are scenes that are so very familiar to me. If you're wondering what my daily surroundings look like, this is it. First, the mission office, which is right across the street from our mission home, complete with two of our mission vehicles.

Next, the family room and kitchen in our mission home. The sofa is my work station, where I sit with my back against the one pillow and my feet up on the other. I spend vast amounts of time here. The kitchen, not so much.

Next, the Calapacuan chapel, which shares a parking lot with our mission office and is just outside the front door of our mission home.

I continue to be in awe of the beauty of our surroundings here in the Philippines Olongapo Mission. We often happen upon beautiful vistas such as this.